News from Big Diamond Raceway

FUTURE RACE DATES:

Friday May 14, 7:45PM - 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Roadrunners.

Sunday May 16, 5:00PM - Dan Drobnick Welding Enduro Series. 6/8 Cylinder Enduro (100-laps), 4 Cylinder Enduro (100-laps), Ladies Race (40-laps).

Friday May 21, 7:45PM - 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, Roadrunners.





DANNY NICHOLAS SCORES FIRST CAREER VICTORY AT BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY...By Gary Lileck





Forestville, PA - May 7, 2010 - Danny Nicholas, a 20-year old second generation racer from Lebanon PA, captured his very first career victory Friday night at Big Diamond Raceway. Nicholas won the 25-lap 358 Modified feature event in impressive fashion and became the fifth different winner out of five points races held.







As part of Yetter Law Offiices Night, Craig Whitmoyer of Hamburg PA won his first 20-lap Sportsman feature of the year while veteran racer Mike Radocha of Nesquehoning PA captured his first BDR feature win since September 5, 1997. Radocha won the 20-lap Wooden Keg Tavern Roadrunner feature.







Nicholas began the 358 Modified feature from the inside pole position after suffering through an early season of tough luck. Nicholas placed his Teo #39 in front on the initial green and basically never looked back. Only three caution flags took place during the fast paced A-Main and Nicholas placed a comfort zone between himself and the competition on each restart attempt.







On the final greeen flag restart with five laps remaining, Nicholas continued to show the way. While a good battle took place from second on back, Nicholas had the number one spot all to himself. By capturing the victory, Danny joined his father Mike Nicholas on the BDR all-time winner's list. They became the third father/son combination to score 358 Modified feature wins in track history.







Colt Harris of Pitman enjoyed his finest moment of the season with a hard earned runner-up finish. Harris was part of an exceptional battle between a handful of talented drivers. Billy Pauch Jr. (Frenchtown NJ) likewise captured a season's best of third. Points leader Doug Manmiller (Shoemakersville) raced from 12th to fourth, and Ryan Godown (Ringoes NJ) powered from 14th to fifth.







Opening day winner Craig Von Dohren (Boyertown) raced closely with Godown, finishing in sixth. Meme DeSantis (Temple), also a feature winner this year, was seveth and John Willman (Birdsboro) ran within the top ten throughout the race's duration, and finished eighth. Gary Hager (Stewartsville NJ) started and finished in ninth and April 9 winner Duane Howard (Oley) rounded out the top ten.







Previous week's winner Jeff Strunk was racing within the top ten when his machine went over the wheel of another competitor, got out of shape, and brought out the caution with just five laps remaining.







Qualifying heat race winners in the 30 car field were: Mike Nicholas, Danny Nicholas, and Colt Harris. Gary Wagner Jr., in only his second start of the season, won the consolation event.







In the Sportsman feature, Brad Force led the opening four circuits and third year racer Mike Lisowski Jr. took command on lap five. While the young second generation racer remained up front, eyes were focussing on Craig Whitmoyer, who began the contest from the thirteenth spot. Whitmoyer passed his way to the front, and strategically worked through the front five one by one.







Whitmoyer. driving his #99 Bicknell, advanced into second on lap 14 and quickly gained the lead on a lap 16 restart. Once in front, Whitmoyer was never challenged and became the fifth different winner of the season. It was Craig's 24th career Sportsman feature win, which ranks on top of the all-time winner's list.







Lisowski (Minersville) scored his highest finish of the year for second and popular area racer Doug Hendricks (Orwigsburg) ended up in third. After a week away, Mike Mammana (Nazareth) returned for a fourth place finish. Force (Sellersville) finished a strong night in fifth.







Although laps 5 through 13 were completed without a caution flag, lap 14 proved to be the most destructive lap in the race. A hard crash involving previous week's winner Andy Fayash Jr., Kevin Smith, Steven Hughes, and Billy Moyer Jr. brought out the red flag. Moyer's car was actually removed from the speedway on the crane. No injuries took place in the incident.







Heat winners in the 29 car field were: Tom Brennan, Kevin Beach, and Mike Lisowski Jr.







The Roadrunner division put on an incredible show from start to finish. As a matter of fact, the top eight cars raced closely in the end, and each of the eight had a shot at victory. Radocha started second and immediately placed his Monte Carlo-454 in front on the initial green.







Places changed constantly throughout the top five, however, Radocha managed to stay up front. He turned away many challenges during the exciting feature contest. In the end, Radocha (the 1988 BDR Street Stock track champion) placed his machine in the winner's circle. Although it was his first career Roadrunner score, it was the 23rd overall of his illustrious Big Diamond career.







Ricky Bender (Joliett) captured a season's best of second and became the new points leader. Kevin Olenick (Forestville) crossed the line in third despite experiencing spark plug issues. Third year racer Ed Kuperavage (Port Carbon) settled for fourth and Marc Berzowski (Branchdale) raced from 11th to fifth.







Elvin Brennan and Mike Radocha were the Roadrunner heat winners.







Action resumes on Friday May 14 with a three division show of 358 Modifieds, Sportsman, and Roadrunners, and three enduro races on Sunday May 16.







BIG DIAMOND RACEWAY - COMPLETE RESULTS - FRIDAY MAY 7, 2010







358 MODIFIED FEATURE (25-LAPS): 1) 39-Danny Nicholas, 2) CR7-Colt Harris, 3) T102-Billy Pauch Jr., 4) 14M-Doug Manmiller, 5) 357-Ryan Godown, 6) 1c-Craig Von Dohren, 7) 88D-Meme DeSantis, 8) 74W-John Willman, 9) 44-Gary Hager, 10) 4-Duane Howard, 11) 5JP-Richie Pratt Jr., 12) 71-David Van Horn Jr., 13) 33-Ray Swinehart, 14) J3-Dale Hartz, 15) 42-Kyle Follweiler, 16) 5-Ricky Yetter, 17) 37x-Tommy Scheetz III, 18) R1-Rick Laubach, 19) 112-Eric Kocher, 20) 41-Jeff Strunk, 21) 27-Troy Wink, 22) 107-Danny Hieber, 23) 1L-Billy Lowden Jr., 24) 3-Mike Nicholas, 25) 14D-AJ DeSantis, 26) 47-Gary Wagner Jr. DNQ: 44B-Jim Bobbitt, 78-Neil Huber, 24-Scott Miller, 3A-Kevin Albert Jr.







SPORTSMAN FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) 99-Craig Whitmoyer, 2) 15-Mike Lisowski Jr., 3) 8H-Doug Hendricks, 4) 71-Mike Mammana, 5) 8-Brad Force, 6) 93-Ryan Moyer, 7) T102-Tim Fitzpatrick, 8) 17x-Kevin Beach, 9) 18-Michael Weinert, 10) 19-Brad Brightbill, 11) 45x-Andy Fayash Jr., 12) 24H-Justin Andrews, 13) 88D-Nick DeSantis, 14) 17D-Mike Loney, 15) 14J-Joey Funk III, 16) 343-Jeremy Hertzog, 17) 29-Sammy Piazza, 18) 26-Tom Brennan, 19) 00-John Kovatch IV, 20) 7-Kevin Smith, 21) 17-Billy Moyer Jr., 22) xx5-Kyle Weiss, 23) 04-Steven Hughes, 24) 31-Harry Landis, 25) 32-Kevin Reese, 26) 5-Jordan Dreher. DNQ: 19U-Jared Umbenhauer, 72-Ray Woodall Jr., 83-Josh Hertzog.







WOODEN KEG TAVERN ROADRUNNER FEATURE (20-LAPS): 1) 454-Mike Radocha, 2) 29B-Ricky Bender, 3) 450-Kevin Olenick, 4) 23-Ed Kuperavage, 5) 66K-Marc Berzowski, 6) 22G-Steve Gromis, 7) 88-Toby Chase, 8) 61S-Christian Donati, 9) 4-Nate Klinger, 10) 45-Ryan Olenick, 11) 102-TJ Fitzpatrick, 12) 550-Joe Kavanaugh, 13) CR7-Jordan Quinn, 14) K9-Kirby Schlappich, 15) 6-Jim Kost, 16) 95K-Kody Sites, 17) 11x-Joey Hendricks, 18) 98K-Chip Kennedy, 19) 105-Joey Brennan, 20) 555-Elvin Brennan, 21) 22-Tom Hablett, 22) 666-Cory Baver.